Passing Over
by Hagios
Summary: Pre-74th Hunger Games. While hunting in the woods, Katniss finds something she can't quite make sense of.


Stumbling hurriedly out the front door, I shrugged my arms into the sleeves of my leather hunting jacket.

I could hear Prim, her little voice worried as she saw me off to the woods. She hated it when I hunted, and even her sweet and docile nature didn't keep her from letting me know just how much at times. Sweet Prim, only ten years old with her large blue eyes and pale braids; gentle as a summer breeze, but strong as the summer sun.

I loved her for it.

I heard her call for me to be home by lunch and to be careful. Little mother Prim, she did her best to keep her voice low as I looked over my shoulder, smiling to let her know I'd heard her. She smiled back, a small, half smile and blew me a kiss. I made a show of catching it and pretending to stick her kiss in my pocket. I could see her giggle, even as I walked away; tenderness for my sister building up in my chest.

Turning back to my path I jogged forward, making my way to the long barbed wire fence that stretched wide and high against the Meadow.

The sun was rising in the sky, and the clear morning air was crisp and cool. Summer was gone and the first hints of winter were making themselves known as I continued on, pulling my hunting jacket tighter against me, wishing it wasn't missing so many buttons.

As I ran through the Meadow I kept my eyes alert, having trained them over time to pick up any movement – a bird, a rabbit, a person.

If I knew anything it was that I couldn't get caught, I had too much to lose.

I saw no one as I climbed up the hill towards the fence, looking to my right and to my left before ducking under the dead wire, making sure to keep my skin away from the sharp barbs. I well-remembered their stings from mornings past.

As soon as my body had passed the wires I felt the all too familiar prick of adrenaline I always got from being on the other side of the fence. The farther I melted into the woods, the more the feeling would fade, being quickly replaced by the peaceful stillness of solitude.

In some ways it almost made the risk worth it.

At the edge of the trees I found my log, reaching in and pulling out my bow and quiver of arrows before slinging both over my shoulder.

Above my head birds were singing, and in the branches mockingjays were exchanging tunes.

I perked up, whistling a few soft notes to add to their songs, smiling as I heard my notes begin to breeze through the trees, carried solely by the mockingjays.

"Hey there Catnip, you serenading the birds again?"

I turned sharply, not expecting to see Gale behind me, my braid whipping over my shoulder and hitting me in the face. I heard him chuckle as he sauntered over to my side, flipping my braid back over my shoulder as he came to a stop beside me.

"Better watch that thing Catnip, if you're not careful you'll hurt yourself, it's like a whip or something."

I shook my head at him, sending him a face and resisting the urge to sick out my tongue at him like the fourteen year old girl I was. Gale was the last person I wanted to think I was a foolish child.

"You'd better keep it down you know," I said. "You'll scare away all my game."

Gale raised his eyebrows.

"_Your_ game? Seems to me like it was my games long before you came along – I'd say it's _our_ game."

I rolled my eyes at him, trying to contain just how happy I was to see him as I turned away, walking further into the trees.

Gale silenced then, grinning beside me as we walked on. I pulled an arrow from its sheath behind my back and fitting it against my bow with ease. Stopping, Gale motioned me to one of our roosts, a tall, wide walnut tree that many animals used as a food source. I leaned lightly against the rough bark of a walnut tree, hoping the dark leather would disguise me as I waited for prey, Gale breathing slowly to my right.

I hadn't been hunting in almost a week, and just the thought of fresh meat to trade and sell made the empty pit in my stomach rebel, growling like a bobcat.

I cursed my body, hoping silently I wouldn't end up giving away my hiding spot. Gale looked at me, amusement in his eyes and I knew he'd heard the growling inside me. I blushed.

As my stomach settled down I let my body relax against the wide tree base, all the while keeping my fingers trained on my bow string.

I didn't have to wait too long; I'd only been sitting still for about a half hour when I heard a twig snap to my left.

Turning slowly, I moved my body along the base of the tree, my booted feet never making a sound, looking back quickly at Gale as he nodded to me. About twenty yards to my left, a large, sleek doe stood grazing along the forest floor.

For a moment I couldn't do anything but stare, she was only the second deer I'd ever seen in the woods before – the first had been almost five years before whit my father. Even then, the deer we'd seen had been sinewy and tough, not young and tender like the one before me.

I thought of all the money she would bring in as I raised my bow, knowing how much she would bring in and how much we needed her meat – there might even be some left over for us to stew.

I couldn't miss.

Taking careful aim, I willed my hands to steady as the trembled slightly with anticipation. I took a deep breath, calming my nerves, and then let the arrow fly.

I missed by a fraction of an inch, but before I could relish in my own disappointment, I'd reloaded, and stepped out from behind the tree, sprinting towards the fleeing deer.

I was fast, but the deer was faster, and as I chased her through the underbrush and leaves I knew I'd have to act fast. I'd have one last shot, and then the doe would be gone. I could hear Gale right behind me and I pushed myself harder, hoping to gain some ground before I took my shot, knowing full well I couldn't try and shoot while running.

I was so focused, so determined, that I never even saw the ground fly up to meet me, my face colliding with the earth with enough force to make my head spin.

I knew already that I'd lost my deer, and I lay there defeated, kicking myself internally.

I'd fallen so suddenly that Gale hadn't had a chance to react and I winced as I felt him rush past me, slowing down as he realized I wasn't in front of him.

"Katniss!" He called, making his way over to my side.

At first I didn't move and just lay there on the forest floor, panting and almost spent as Gale knelt beside me. When I finally did move it was slowly, cautiously as I tested out my limbs, making sure nothing was sprained or broken.

"I'm alright." I said. "Just a bruised body and a little bruised pride."

I pulled myself up into a sitting position, running my hands up and down my knees and I brushed away the dirt and grass that clung to them, Gale pulling crumbled leaves out of my braid.

"That was quite a spill you took there Catnip."

It wasn't until I stood up that I saw the box, the corner of it sticking up from where it was buried, covered in earth and moss. I decided it must be what I'd tripped on and kicked it angrily, hissing with pain as I realized just how hard the box was.

Suddenly curious, I bent down, crouching next to it, pulling aside the aging moss with my dirty fingers and brushing away a dusting of dirt.

It was a dark grey box, probably made of metal, with a handle and a clasp. It was rusted over with age and time and I could tell just by looking at it that it was old. Tugging at the crusted handle, I pulled it slowly out from its tomb of earth, running my fingers over its lid.

Gale crouched down beside me, his brow furrowed as he studied the box in my hands.

"So that's what got you huh? Too bad."

I ignored him as my finger found the latch, and flipping it up I tried to pry it open. It was sealed shut, clamped with age, and I couldn't budge it.

I wasn't about to give up, by then my curiosity was getting the best of me. I needed to know what was inside.

I picked up the box then, noting that it wasn't heavy, but it wasn't light either, and walked over to a large rock jutting up from the ground. Gale followed me as I lifting the box above my head, smashing its latch down against the rock once, then twice as I struggled to get it open.

After another few slams, I was rewarded as the latch flew off and was able to pry open the box.

I don't know what I was expecting; maybe food or tools, something useful – or jewelry, something valuable.

"What is it?" Asked Gale, peering curiously over my shoulder.

Looking inside the box, I was disappointed to find it contained nothing more than an old, weathered book.

I huffed audibly, picking up the book and turning it over in my palms.

It was a large, black bound book with a strange symbol on its cover, but no writing. I'd never seen anything like it before and I frowned, wondering what it might be about.

"Look inside." Gale said, and I could tell he was just as curious as I was, despite the fact that books in general were not really our thing.

I open the cover, leafing through a few thin pages of incredibly small print, searching for something more readable. A few pages into the book I found a list of large print words, and the names themselves sounded foreign in my head.

From behind me, I heard Gale read them out loud.

"Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deut… deuter… can you read that word Catnip?" He asked, clearly puzzled.

I shook my head.

"Not really, I don't think I've ever seen that word before."

"Maybe it's a name." Gale piped up, and I nodded, he could be right.

I flipped a few pages forward then, hoping to find some words I could understand, stopping on a jumble of blocky paragraphs titled "Genesis".

"It's that name again." Gale said.

"Oh I get it," I realized. "That list of words was a chapter index, and this is the chapter."

Gale nodded, it made sense to him.

I traced the first line with my grubby fingers, noting by the wear in the pages that the book was once well read.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters…."

I paused, brow wrinkling. What kind of story _was_ this? I looked over at Gale, and I was sure my face matched his.

I read on anyway.

"And God said "Let there be light" and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day" and the darkness "night"…"

Beside me, Gale scratched his head.

"Strange book," He said. "Talking about some spirit making light. You can't make light, light has always been here."

I nodded in agreement, but something about the book in my hands made me want to read more. As far-fetched as it sounded, I couldn't shake the feeling of depth and gravity on the wrinkled page before me.

I kept flipping through.

"I wonder why we've never seem this book before, or at least a copy of it somewhere in school?" I wondered aloud.

Gale shrugged, quickly losing interest.

"I don't know, it's probably pre-Uprising. That would explain why we've never seen a copy."

I kept flipping through the thin pages, my confusion growing as the story turned to poetry. I read aloud.

"Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" your face, LORD, I will seek."

Gale cackled beside me, picking up my bow and sheath.

"Now _that's_ the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard; sounds like whoever wrote that never grew a backbone."

When I didn't laugh Gale grabbed the book from me, closing it loudly.

"C'mon Catnip, enough reading for today, let's just get back to hunting."

I snatched the book back from him, grabbing my bow and arrows as I tucked the book safely beneath my hunting jacket. Gale sighed.

"You're not going to keep that thing are you?"

I shrugged, wrapping my arms around my middle.

"Maybe I will, maybe I won't. It's _my_ choice Gale. I think Prim might like it – she loves stories."

Gale shook his head.

"There's a reason that book was _buried_ Catnip. You know how much trouble you and Prim would be in if someone found out you owned a pre-Uprising book?"

I felt my shoulders slump, I knew he was right.

"Let's just go," Gale said, his hand on my shoulder. "We need to catch something before noon."

I nodded, removing the book from underneath my jacket. Stooping down, I placed it back inside the metal box, closing the lid before pushing it once again under some moss. It was a shame, such a pretty bound book and no one to read it.

It didn't matter. I told myself, following Gale as he turned back to our roost.

It was just a book.

* * *

><p><em> Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Luke 21:33<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Does it sound weird to say that I think this is the most meaningful thing I've ever written for the Hunger Games? It probably does. I love the books, they are amazing, but this story was always at the back of my mind. I always found myself wondering where God might have left the picture in human minds, so I needed to write this, because I believe that, even though this story is purely fictional, that Luke 21:33 is true.<strong>

**So yeah, I've done the unthinkable, bringing God into the Hunger Games, but just let me remind you that I won't ever own the series - this is just me using my imagination. **

**Anyway - love it?(probably not), hate it?(that's what I'm afraid might be true) - but either way, let me know what you think! Please review.**


End file.
